Although Hanifa Nankinga joined Waymark last summer, some clients still don’t recognize her name when she calls or emails them. So we thought it would be helpful to get to know a little more about her. Watch Hanifa’s interview with Brendan and learn everything from her professional background to which TV shows she’s currently binge-watching.
Topics Discussed:
Hanifa’s background and education
Why she’s interested in financial planning
Hanifa answers some fun questions
Transcript:
Brendan Sheehan Hi and welcome to another edition of coffee with Brendan. Today we're going to change up the format a little bit. You know, one of the questions that I've started getting more and more often is who is an Hanifa? I know who Brandon is, but I don't know who an Hanifa is. Well Hanifa just for a little bit of background joined us about, six to eight months ago, and has been working kind of behind the scenes on things, you've probably gotten a couple of emails from her. But she is our newest hire. And I wanted to record a video today that just kind of introduces you to her. In case the only interaction you've ever had with her is by email, and you've never actually seen her face. So we have a couple of questions that are kind of on the serious, you know, what, what does she do on a day to day basis? And then we'll migrate to some more fun questions like what she what is she binge watching and is she a morning person or an evening person? So let's get started. So Hanifa welcome!
Hanifa Nankinga
Thank you.
Brendan Sheehan
All right, let's, let's get started on a couple of these questions. So let's just start with, what do you do? So you you work for Waymark but you also have another job. You have an MBA. So tell that tell us, tell the audience a little bit about you.
Hanifa Nankinga
I currently work at Raytheon as a lot of financial analyst. Not very exciting stuff, just putting together government proposals. But I really want to get into financial planning. I think that's the end goal. That's really where I want to be. And right now I'm an administrative assistant for Waymark.
Brendan Sheehan
Gotcha. So what motivates you? So again, you mentioned that Raytheon doesn't seem to be cutting it. But you know, you seem to be a little bit more motivated with the financial planning/financial services side of things. So tell me about that. Like, what, what motivates you about that?
Hanifa Nankinga
Yeah, so one thing that I want to make sure I do in my personal career is make a difference in people's lives. And just, you know, through talking with Brendan and Brandon, I've seen the impact that you guys have on people's lives, whether that's, you know, saving up for college, or retirement or, you know, going through some tough family situations, you guys really make a true impact and people leave happy. So that's what really motivates me in my career is getting to a point where I can have the same impact on people's lives like you guys do.
Brendan Sheehan
Got it! Well, thank you for saying that, you know, sometimes you we kind of get lost on that, that we're dealing with people's money. And at the end of the day, money touches everything. So sometimes, we do have a pretty big impact on people. So I do appreciate that you do acknowledge that. Anything else that you want to kind of share with us from a professional standpoint, like, again, maybe some people want to know about your background, you know, like, where did you grow up around here? You know, you know, I know that you have your MBA, so maybe talk a little bit about that.
Hanifa Nankinga
Yeah, so I actually grew up in Dracut, MA, which is a small town and it was very boring growing up there. But then I surprisingly, didn't want to go too far away for college. And I didn't want to pay the gillions of dollars for college either. So I went to UMass Lowell for my undergrad, and then finished up with that got a little bored for a year went back my MBA. Same school, meaning School of Business. And yeah, I've been in the area for the past 20 something years, 26 years, but I was originally born in Uganda. So I moved here when I was six years old. But yeah, I've been in New England for the majority of my life.
Brendan Sheehan
Got it. Now, one thing that I, frankly was a little bit impressed with when you were interviewing with us is your work ethic. So one of the things that I think you had mentioned was that your family, your sisters are very accomplished. And in your family, you were told pretty much what are you doing? Why are you watching TV, you know, you should be doing something. So tell me a little bit about that.
Hanifa Nankinga
Yeah, so I come from a family of doctors and engineers. So growing up, it was a very pressured environment to you're either going to get your PhD and become a doctor or you're going to help build something. And actually, I wanted to be a pediatrician growing up because I love kids. And I'm named after from my aunt who's also a pediatrician, so I was like, Oh, this is perfect. I took chemistry and I was like, maybe not for me. But I do like numbers, and I love interacting with people. So that's how I kind of got into finance. And luckily for me, I have one uncle, who's a CFO. So he kind of backed me up in the family and was like, no, like, finance doesn't have to be medicine or engineering. Like, there's definitely a difference you can make in finance as well. So that's how I got into it. And I have no regrets from that. And my family's very proud that I kind of followed what I wanted to do. And, you know, I, I'm still successful, so they're happy.
Brendan Sheehan
Got it. All right. Well, let's, uh, let's, let's turn the page. Just a more fun question. So do you speak any other languages other than other than just English?
Hanifa Nankinga
Yes. So I grew up speaking Lugandan, which is the native language of Uganda. I also speak English, obviously. And I speak a little bit of Spanish. And I also speak Arabic, so I don't speak it fluently. But I can read fluently and have like conversations little like, elementary conversations in Arabic. So
Brendan Sheehan
I was gonna say I could put you on the spot and tell you to say, you know, Hello, my name is Hanifa and multiple languages, but I'm not gonna
Hanifa Nankinga
Okay, thank you.
Brendan Sheehan
You're a morning person or a night owl.
Hanifa Nankinga
Definitely a morning person. I am up at 530 in the morning, every single day. Maybe not Saturdays. But definitely every other day. I just like to get up and get the day going and be in bed by nine o'clock. 10 latest
Brendan Sheehan
You really are a really are someone that goes to bed early nine o'clock.
Hanifa Nankinga
Yeah. But you can't force me to stay up past 11 It's not going to happen.
Brendan Sheehan
All right, final questions. Keep this nice and short. In terms of binge watching, everyone's got a certain Netflix show or Amazon Prime. I actually just got into one yesterday, and there's an HBO one that I've gotten into "The Last of Us," which everyone's talking about. But how about you? What's the what's the last show that you've been watched?
Hanifa Nankinga
Yeah, so my boyfriend and I love watching The Bachelor and Bachelorette. He's the one who actually got me into it, surprisingly. So we just love watching these people try to figure out their love lives. And it's just great entertainment.
Brendan Sheehan
So I have to ask because I literally can watch about 10 minutes of those. And then I'm just like, I can't take these people. They're driving me insane. What is it about the bachelor that you guys are binge watching?
Hanifa Nankinga
Well, you just see someone and you're like, okay, like, they have no idea what they're doing with their lives. And there's just something refreshing and entertaining about that and don't really have to think during the show. So it's just a nice way to relax and not really do anything and just kind of enjoy each other's time too. He's a great commentator when it comes to shows like that. Like we watch a lot of his blind when we first met. So we just love watching, I guess like, basically trash TV and just making fun of it.
Brendan Sheehan
Got it. Got it. Okay, well, that I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with your opinion, because I think a slur is awful, awful TV. But we'll debate that later today at lunchtime or something like that. But thank you Hanifa for appearing on this. The next one we're going to do we're going to do one very similar to this with Brandon. I know a lot of you have worked with Brandon. But not many of you to kind of know the backstory and how he and I actually started working together. Gosh, I think it's oh my gosh, it's almost like 15 years that Brandon and I have been working together so. So I think it'll be fun to actually hear kind of Brandon's backstory and well maybe what he's binge watching as well. But anyway, so thank you for tuning in for today's coffee with Brendan. This is Hanifa and I'm sure you'll be speaking with her a little bit more as she gets a little bit more comfortable and more integrated into Waymark systems. So thank you so much, and we'll see you next time.
Brendan is the Managing Director for Waymark Wealth Management. He has extensive experience in comprehensive wealth management. His focus includes retirement planning, behavioral finance, investment portfolio construction, education funding, insurance & risk management, taxes, charitable giving, and estate planning. Brendan has an ability to take clients' complex visions and distill them down to simple action plans, helping them move from where they are today to where they want to be tomorrow.
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